Policy_Navigator
Insights from the nation's healthcare think tanks
American Enterprise Institute - Health
The High and Rising Costs of Employer-Provided Health Care
“An annual survey of businesses sponsoring employee health coverage is warning of expensive premium hikes in 2026, with an expected average jump of 9.0 percent before cost-cutting changes are implemented. Employers believe they can hold the premium rise to 7.6 percent with plan adjustments.”
Brookings Center on Health Policy
US drug supply chain exposure to China
“Concerns about conflict with China disrupting U.S. drug supply chains are valid, but the nature of the exposure is frequently misrepresented, risking ineffective policy responses. The broadest exposure is with raw materials, including solvents and reagents. For active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), the role of Chinese manufacturers is greatest in the initial, unregulated steps of API production. Their role in making the final active ingredient varies widely across drugs.”
Cato Institute Health
Abolish the Office of Surgeon General and the Public Health Service Corps
“The US surgeon general has morphed from an apolitical supervisor of medical personnel to a divisive activist who undermines public health. Successive administrations have turned the Office of the Surgeon General into a highly political platform that opines on divisive non–public health issues ranging from gun control and social media to labor and housing policy. Such mission creep undermines the effectiveness of legitimate government public health activities.”
Commonwealth Fund
“We discuss what ACIP does and who its members are, how it makes recommendations, and how the Trump administration’s actions may affect Americans’ ability to obtain affordable vaccines for themselves and their children.”
Foundation for Government Accountability
Stopping the Biden Administration’s ObamaCare Subsidy Fraud
“The Biden administration incentivized individuals to commit fraud in order to maximize ObamaCare subsidies. The Trump administration and Congress should continue their work to stamp out this fraud.”
Goodman Institute
What Should Be Done with Obamacare?
“Congress will have to deal with important questions: whether to extend the Democratic enhanced subsidies for Obamacare, or let them expire. Conventional wisdom says Congress will divide on these questions almost perfectly along party lines. Could there be an alternative? How about bipartisan reform of Obamacare in a way that saves money and creates better insurance at the same time?”
Heritage Foundation - Health
Time To Fix Doctor’s Medicare Payment Once and for All
“The system is a complex administrative payment program that often pays too much or too little, and which is largely insulated from real market forces. Medicare physician payment was 82 percent of prevailing private rates; in 2023, it fell to 71percent; and this year it is estimated at just 64 percent.”
KFF
How Will the 2025 Reconciliation Law Affect the Uninsured Rate in Each State?
“President Trump signed into law a budget reconciliation package that will make significant changes to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplaces. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that, relative to its estimates of insurance coverage prior to the law being enacted, the law will increase the number of people without health insurance in 2034 by 10 million.”
Milken Institute
The Wealth-Health Connection: How Economic Status Shapes Well-Being
“Financial assets act as a buffer against health-harming hardships. Individuals with substantial financial resources are better equipped to handle job loss, medical emergencies, and other stressors that can negatively impact health. For instance, during periods of illness or unemployment, those with a financial safety net can more easily afford medical expenses, including insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs.”
National Bureau of Economic Research - Health
Medicaid’s Lifesaving Effects on Low-Income Adults
“The largest national study to date on the effects of recent Medicaid expansions suggests that the program reduced the mortality risk of new enrollees by about 21 percent.”
Paragon Health Institute
“Biden’s COVID credits drove improper and phantom enrollment. Paragon estimates 6.4 million improper exchange enrollees in 2025, and CMS reported nearly 12 million enrollees—35 percent of all enrollees—with zero claims in 2024.”
Petersen Center on Healthcare
Petersen working with CMS to modernize the digital health ecosystem
“There is currently no recognized regulatory authority responsible for assessing the clinical efficacy and economic impact of digital health technologies (DHTs). As a result, DHTs are often adopted without clear evidence of their ability to improve patient outcomes, leading to wasteful spending and missed opportunities to improve care.”
Rand - Healthcare
“Serious illness programs, payers, and others can use the Serious Illness Surveys to measure patient experiences of care in a standardized manner to inform quality improvement, promote tracking of performance over time, and enable fair comparisons between programs.”
Trust for America’s Health
Pain in the Nation 2025: The Epidemics of Alcohol, Drug, and Suicide Deaths
“New data show that deaths due to drug overdose and alcohol are down nationally, but this progress is uneven across population groups and at risk due to cuts to federal health programs and workforce.”
Urban Institute Health Policy
Building on the Affordable Care Act to Achieve Universal Coverage
“In this report, we propose eight incremental reforms that would expand upon the Affordable Care Act. For each of the eight steps, we introduce policies that would increase insurance coverage, improve affordability, and contain health care costs."